Burglary, Africa, and the sprinkles on top.

SeaShine Readers,

With an unexpected trip to Africa, visiting eight states and recovering from a burglary, my life has been quite the whirlwind since returning from missions in May.  I have been able to rest some, but I have mostly found myself on the go.  Between visiting friends and family and adjusting to living in The States, life has been (and will remain) interesting, full of love and full of adventure.

I entered into this summer in much prayer.  Adjusting to the culture I grew up in has been easy in some ways and unexpectedly difficult in others.  I didn’t necessarily have a hard time realizing that clean water was coming out of the faucet or trying to decide which of the 1,000 shampoos to pick at the grocery store.   Instead, I’ve had a hard time walking with God on familiar ground.  I knew how to walk with God before leaving for missions in July, 2008, but God pretty much rocked my world when I was immersed in foreign cultures as well as deep community.  While overseas, I learned how to relate to God all over again – because I had to.  I also had to change my mindset, a process that required the sifting away of false precepts.  It was a journey that changed my relationship with God – for the better.

I see things in a unique way now that I’m back to my “old stomping grounds.”   Being removed from what I’ve always known will do that, but I now have had to fight the battle of how to relate to God here after the time away.  I’ve even had to figure out how to adjust to a new community.  God didn’t change throughout my travels, I did.  And how does this changed self live life (with God and people) here?

For the most part, I have found myself quite adaptable.  (One would need to be when you change locations up to 17 times in one month – while leading on the World Race!)  A few weeks ago, I received a call from my organization saying that one of my teams (from the squad I co-led in January, 2010) was held up at gun point and robbed.  My organization needed me to fly out the next day to Tanzania, Africa and help debrief the team with one of the squad coaches from the Netherlands.  I was on a plane in 24 hours and found that the time was needed for both parties – for both my squad and for me.  It was a blessing no one was hurt in the ordeal.  I returned to The States after a week in Tanzania, feeling a little more grounded in the journey God has me on.  I returned with a deeper peace than when I left.

Three days after returning to Arkansas, I flew to California to visit my dad and family.  We were on our way back from visiting family in Oregon, our car was broken into, while we take a moment to eat some

dinner.  Needless to say the “one-bag-I-would-grab-in-a-house-fire” was taken.  I had taken all my pictures with me (including back-ups) to put together a photography website to help raise funds for missions.  The photographs, my camera, my computer and all of the remaining contents of the bag were gone.  I found then that, in the words of William Carey, “I [had] been brought more lowly so that I might look at God more simply.”  Being in Tanzania had prepared me for this moment.  Itt could have been a lot worse.

So here I am (second from the left, in the nearest above photo) on a new journey now.  Got a new Bible and a journal, and my father gave me his camera.  Fresh start!  A portion of grace comes over people at just the right times, and I find now that I am looking at the face of God.  I am still praying about long-term missions and will be heading out to Ireland on the 28th of this month (August) to see my squad for a debrief and a worship conference!  In the meantime, I am working with my mother in real estate, reading the blogs of the World Racers and staying connected with the community here.  I am excited for “the now” and for what is to come.  I have my sails raised, and God is my captain.

Pac y Amor,

Tara

Read more about Tara’s Travels this Fall on SeaShineMag.com, and find her latest prayer requests at http://tarastephenson.theworldrace.org.